1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to swing door operators. More specifically, the present invention is a non-handed swing door operator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many public buildings have swing doors attached to automated door opening units, or “operators.” These mechanisms may be connected to, for example, a motion sensor or a push button in order to relieve patrons of the burden of opening the doors. When the motion sensor is triggered, or the button pushed, a motor causes rotation of an arm about an axis, with the arm being connected to the door to be moved to a fully open position. The motor, or some other mechanism, may then cause the door to return to a fully closed position.
Conventional terms for standard configurations of doors and operators include an “inswing,” which on a left-hand door (i.e., attached to the door frame at the door left edge) would be a counter-clockwise rotation when viewed from above. Similarly, an inswing would be a clockwise rotation on a right-hand door (i.e., attached to the door frame at the door right edge). An “outswing” for a left-hand door would be a clockwise rotation when viewed from above. An outswing for a right-hand door would be a counter-clockwise rotation. In an actual installation, the person entering a right-hand door from the front would see the right-hand door panel move toward him.
Conventionally, door operators may be designated as (1) a “left hand” unit (an “LH” unit), which causes an inswing on a left-hand door, (2) a “left hand reverse” unit (an “LHR” unit), which causes an outswing on a left-hand door, (3) a “right-hand” unit (an “RH” unit), which causes an inswing on a right-hand door, and (4) a “right hand reverse” unit (an “RHR” unit), which causes an outswing on a right-hand door.
These designations are also used with double doors, which have individual opening units for the left and right doors. For a double door installation requiring an inswing, LH and RH units would be used on the left and right doors, respectively. For a double door installation requiring an outswing, LHR and RHR units would be used on the left and right doors, respectively.
As a result of these various configurations, a service technician is currently required to carry each possible configuration of a unit to be prepared for each of the four possible unit failures at sites. Another problem with existing operators is the inability to quickly and efficiently remove the motor because access to motor mounting screws is blocked by one or more of the gear assemblies. As a result, to access the motor mounting screws, one or more gears must be removed, which may result in damage to the gears and difficulty in proper realignment of the gears when they are replaced.
Yet another problem relates to alignment of cams that cause actuation of cam switches when the operator arm is in various positions. Over time, rotational alignment of the cams can slip, necessitating realignment to ensure proper operating range of the swing door.